FinCon 2017: Putting Faces to Blogs, Beer and Take-Aways

I have been to my fair share of “conferences” over the last 5 years, but I have never been excited to actually attend one. That changed a few weeks ago as I packed my bags for FinCon in Dallas. Hanging out with like-minded people that love to talk money and life – what more could I ask for?

When I packed up 5 days later, I didn’t walk away with saving tips, investment advice, or any of the other things you might expect from a Financial conference.

Instead, I walked away with friends

Friends that I have already talked to more in the past 10 days than I had in the last 6 months.

Friends that are already coming to visit our awesome North Stars group in December (Hey Miss Mazuma!– thanks for making up for my poor planning!)

People that I can collaborate with on future projects and not only will support me but WANT to them to succeed.

Completely random thought before I get into what I took away from this conference: It felt good to take my emoji face off and talk to people without hiding my identity.

FinCon 2017 Take-Aways

I need to Further Embrace the Community

Getting to talk in person with a ton of other FIRE people was invaluable, more than any session could possibly provide. I was lucky enough to have in-depth conversations with couples that have already pulled the cord on full-time work and are living life on their own terms. Guess what!

It is all it is cracked up to be and more.

I am also looking forward to more collaboration. Running a blog is a shit-ton of work, and finding ways to help each other grow together was a constant conversation topic. I have some regular calls/chats setup and am hoping to add a few more.

Push harder

There is something about being around successful, intelligent, hard-working people that makes me want to do more. I left with a list of things to look into, update, add or change on Apathy Ends. I also need to get on a consistent posting schedule which is something I have tried to do a few times but ended up abandoning when time became scarce.

Family comes first, but I will be doing as much as I can here for the foreseeable future.

Money Nerds can party with the best of them

When you hear Financial Conference, the last thing that comes into your mind is party time…..but crazy drinks, amazing beer, and fun were not in short supply.

All of the presentations were recorded – so I put the majority* of my time into hanging with people outside info sessions (I have a bunch to watch once they are available!)

*95%+

Here is how I spent my nights during FinCon

Wednesday – Pub Crawl

First bar – shady as hell but it went up from there. Free drinks and food – hard to pass up. Also had some great company (many of them are listed down below!)

Thursday – FinCon Kick off party

They went all out for the FinCon kick-off party at a place called The Rustic.

Brisket Quesadillas (Amazing), free drinks and a band.

The kick-off party was followed by a beer tasting after party hosted by Gwen and The Mastermind Within. Serious amounts of amazing beer were present and consumed.

Friday – Party Crashing and a Beer Brewery

A big group of us took a trip to Brain Dead brewery. The Beer was awesome. The “Chicken Nuggzz” were delicious (I did feel like a child ordering chicken nuggets for dinner, but they were an adult version)

I don’t think we were invited, but the drinks were goodI usually don’t stray into drinks with a flower in them and I’m not a 100% sure what I drank, but it was good (and free!!!)

Saturday – Costume Dance Party

I bailed early but it looked like everyone was primed for a good time. I didn’t want to fly hungover (one of my rules) and wanted to be “super dad” when I got back to MN.

You know, Super Dad, that guy that leaves his wife for 4 days to take care of their child and tries to make up for it on Sunday. Thankfully, I have an awesome wife that was willing to let me experience FinCon!

Will I be at FinCon 2018?????

Yes. Ticket bought and room booked…….Pending any major life changes of course.

Even if this site doesn’t gain any traction in the next year, I will still maintain it just so I can have a little street cred as an attendee.

People that I want to shout out to that made the experience even more enjoyable!

GuyonFire – Tour guide to In and Out burger and got shuffled off the lawn by security with me while taking this picture:

Miss Mazuma – We forgive you for getting us into “free food and drinks” that quickly turned into a healthcare lecture

Fritz – Heckling PoF during the Healthcare discussion and making the entire back row laugh “Damn anesthesiologist ruining the healthcare system”

Physician on FIRE – MMMMMM…… Surly Darkness………Got my only piece of SWAG from him as well:

Do I get to claim to be a minimalist?Penny – Fellow new parent (I got to see her baby!) and she talked me into ditching the last half of the keynote on Friday (that is how I remember it going down anyway)

Vikki from Make Smarter Decisions – I was able to sit next to Vikki and her husband and chat over amazing beer/food at Brain Dead Brewing. They also dressed up as one of my favorite blogging couples for the dance party (Freedom is Groovy – we missed you)

Financial Panther(s) – Yes, there are two people behind this blog, both awesome (and one that may be getting technical questions from yours truly moving forward)

Mr. PIE – We looked at each other going the opposite way on the escalators after the beer tasting night, pretty sure we were thinking the exact same thing.

Still not done…….

Wealth Well Done – Another MN blogger and one of the few bloggers I knew before the conference. Billy has an amazing story and has a lot to offer this community.

Distilled Dollar – Finally got to meet my first blogging friend in real life and we have already setup calls every other week to talk blogging and side hustle ideas

Adventure Rich – I know your name, the server sold you out at breakfast

1500 Days and the WOWs – Fellow beer lovers, I want to spend more time with this crew

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Reader Interactions

Comments

You nailed it here! I learned a few things at the sessions I went to – and made a few connections to follow up on in terms of the vendors. But the biggest take away was hanging out with people like you! You may not have experienced this yet, but this kind of like a high school reunion. Where you just pick up and chat as if you’ve known each other for a long time. But I actually think these relationships can beat those – because of ongoing similar interests and conversations. We haven’t committed to next year yet, but if we aren’t traveling out west somewhere – we hope to go!

It was awesome getting a chance to hang out!! Sorry about the healthcare pitch…all we were told was free drinks and food. Like moths to a flame, that was all us freeloaders needed to hear with no regard to asking follow up questions. Lesson learned!

Next year I’m in!! You best bring your wife and baby so I can get the full emoji-less picture. 🙂 Now, there were a lot of Dads at FinCon so I can’t cast my official vote for which is Super Dad, but I will say you were the only one who gushed with googly eyes while showing pics of their baby (multiple times!). That has to count for something, right?!

PS – She is fricking ADORABLE!! And since I didn’t see any other babies while at FinCon (HP alluded me!!), I can officially cast my vote for Baby AE to win title of Super Baby.

What a nice recap! Everyone sounds like they had a good time. That flowery drink looks really good! Keep plugging away- the key is not quitting and you will gain traction (at least that’s what I tell myself/ it’s my blog mantra these days haha)

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like fun. If you didn’t already, I’d recommend throwing in tacos with the beer – they pair very well together.

You mentioned a list of things to improve your blog – anything you’d recommend? One thing that you referenced: a consistent writing schedule. This keeps popping up on many other sites. I’m also trying to be more consistent, but I hear you – it can be difficult at times.

It was great to put a face to the blog! It was my first FinCon and I’ve already signed up for the second. 🙂 I wonder if they should just include a FinCon pass that just gives you access to the venue itself to chat with other bloggers, eh? I might have attended, like, 3 sessions total. It really was about meeting people and making those connections. 🙂

Thanks for the shout out, and I bought my 2018 ticket as well so I look forward to repeating our adventures. And thanks for my first Uber ride!!!!! They didn’t have uber in prison! Haha. I’ve been on a crazy 8 day road trip to Austin and back since fincon, that then led into a 3 day hunting trip up north, so I’ve been overly booked in the travel department. I finally am home to catch up on sleep, and let you know I am looking forward to the M. Mazuma meetup. See ya there homie.

Glad to see you again, even if we were moving in opposite directions most of the time. I feel like I saw so many people, but spent time with far too few. I guess that’s bound to happen when you spend four days with hundreds of friends!

That barrel aged Darkness was no joke. Nor were the other “couple beers” that were “sampled” that evening.

It was so great to meet you! I love being able to put a face with a blog now. 😉
Hopefully, we can talk more in Orlando. Making friends was the best part of FinCon. Good luck with all your goals. Getting on a regular content posting schedule is something I’m working on as well. I sure envy those with weeks of content ready to go. May we be one of them someday soon!

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